about arts institute keass

Arts Institute Keass (AIK) is a global organisation providing integrated services and products within the sectors of creative education, design and design thinking, and innovation management. The institute comprises several companies and initiatives, engaged in education, research and innovation partnerships, commercial design and service delivery, in the UK, China and internationally.

Founded in 2004, AIK is based in London, with locations in the UK, North America, and China, with clients across the world. As a collective of designers, artists, educators and innovation management talent, every professional at AIK is an engaged partner, sharing their own field of expertise and experience with the wider community, through collaborative practice, inspiring new possibilities and projects across all areas of the creative industries sector. AIK is organised into four operational fields; AIK:lab, AIK:view, AIK:innovate and AIK:international.

our divisions

AIK:lab
AIK:lab develops, manages and delivers all of our innovative academic courses and research activities throughout the institute, delivering educational provision across all levels of the creative education spectrum, from early years to postgraduate courses. AIK:lab continues to work with a range of top-ranking UK higher education institutions and universities in mutual partnership and collaboration, to develop a range of innovative and exciting educational initiatives including articulation, study-abroad, summer school and exchange programmes.

AIK:view
AIK:view initiates and supports the outward facing activities of the institute, curating exhibitions, presenting online publications and research papers, organising conferences, webinars and seminars, both independently and collaboratively, with our partners and others across the globe.

AIK:innovate
AIK:innovate sees product innovation as a key driver across the global creative industries sector for the development of creativity and design innovation, manufacture, education and thinking. AIK:innovate supports industry and business concept development and incubation, to produce transformational outcomes through ‘object/artefact’, education, and design innovation and thinking.

AIK:international
AIK as a truly global organisation, draws together and facilitates the creative industries educational development and design thinking dialogue across the AIK organisation, as well as the development and delivery of collaborative, reciprocal arrangements with our partners in the UK, China and others, across the world.

Hi! GlobalCreatives!

In partnership with Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design (University of Dundee) in the UK, Sichuan Fine Arts Institute in China, and other leading Chinese and international academies, "Hi! GlobalCreatives!" scheme (HGC) provides opportunities for students to develop the creative and conceptual skills and understanding required in today’s creative industries, and the continuously changing global environment.

HGC delivers contemporary practice-based creative education, developed by experienced academics and professionals, to enable students to progress to degree courses in leading universities and academies in the UK, and beyond, to careers in the creative industries. Based on more than 10 years’ experience of delivering British creative education in many of China’s best universities, our courses offer unique, advanced teaching concepts.

HGC is a learner-centred project-based scheme, providing an exceptional education and life-changing experience for students. We demonstrate quality and excellence in every aspect of our operations. We are growing while continually improving and being innovative and results-oriented. We promote a cooperative team spirit and a positive "can-do" attitude.

urban stream architecture & designers

Urban Stream is a design consortium, made up of designers, architects and planners from diverse backgrounds and committed to the continuing pursuit of excellence in all aspects of design. We collaborate with our clients across Europe, Asia and Africa to create innovative, immersive and sustainable environments. Urban Stream plays the role of taking challenges in designs of different scales which varies from as small as designing a boutique lounge bar to as immense as planning a majestic urban city.

Driven by interdisciplinarity from 50+ team-based professionals in Europe, Asia and Africa, we carry our unique value of “Think global, act local.” From office to office across the globe, we are not only orienting our designs on tangible human senses, but also sharing our diversities of human imaginations. We are endlessly mastering technologies and exchanging new ideas with local communities, institutes and stakeholders in order to create a beautiful, yet sustainable, environment.

Furthermore, our experiences in LEED consultancy and low carbon city planning have allowed us to utilize our own strategies for better and smarter technologies and designs; thus, our skills and knowledge in sustainable designs can also be integrated into space management for infrastructures, landscapes and cities.

keass creative awards

As a knowledge-intensive field, creative industries have very important strategic significance to China, a country which is in industrial restructuring.The creative industries in China have been developing rapidly in recent years. However, China’s creative industries are still facing problems that hinder future development. The lack of creative talents, challenges in the education system, and many other factors prevent the healthy development of the Chinese creative industry.

In order to encourage outstanding creative young Chinese students and to provide a platform for them in the industry, Arts Institute Keass (formerly KEASS Creative Association) has launched the Keass Creative Awards (KCA) in 2011, which is a serial of awards specifically for the British creative education. The KCA is funded by the Arts Institute Keass and its partners. KCA Committee is responsible for the KCA management and operations.

keass internaitonal creative education forum

The contemporary cultural and creative industries are no longer just concepts, but a reality – a reality that presents huge economic benefits. Increasingly, and over recent years, China is undergoing an economic and structural transformation from a manufacturing country to a country led by the cultural and creative industries. In the transformation process, the output value of the cultural and creative industries represents dramatic growth. Many enterprises, especially the traditional manufacturing and processing enterprises in the coastal area, are increasingly prioritising the attraction and retention of creative talent. However, compared with other countries with developed creative industries, China still faces significant challenges, amongst which a severe shortage of creative talent has become a major obstacle of the development of creative industries.

In order to improve the core competitiveness of China’s cultural and creative industries, “creative education” has a primary and urgent role to play, both in terms of revolutionizing the modes and methods of creative thinking and learning. The UK was the first country in the world to propose and promote the concept of the “creative industries”, and it remains one of the world’s creative hubs. The character, principles and methods of its creative higher education are worthy of reflection and reference for China’s higher education system, in achieving its longer-term aims.

The 4th Keass International Creative Education Forum is an academic exchange event jointly organised by the Keass Creative Group and Sichuan Fine Arts Institute, with a fully support from the Cultural & Education Section of the British Consulate-General, and the Welsh Government. It builds on the success of the first three Keass Creative Education Forums. It will gather experts and scholars of leading art academies, creative industry practitioners, and elites from various professional design industry associations, from both China and Europe. The discussion theme of this forum event is “The role that creative education can play in the transformation of the creative industries”. Forum proceedings will be documented in book form.